Modelling food policies in Italian urban agendas in the time of Covid-19: Experiences, challenges and opportunities

Mediterranean Diet, Sustainability, and Tourism—A Study of the Market’s Demand and Knowledge

“…Moreover, within restaurants, it might help to train kitchen and dining room staff in storytelling about the MD and the offered dishes that represent it. Through some kind of training, a new professional profile, such as a “Mediterranean Diet expert” could be formed to provide direct information about products (raw materials of foods) to clients and “tell” about the MD in a holistic approach [ 83 , 84 , 85 ]. Doing so, it will be possible to help cover the gap outcome from the results regarding the chefs/restaurants’ owners lack of knowledge about the agricultural and environmental characteristics of the territory, linked to product seasonality, which make the dishes unique.…”

“…This first step is aimed at providing clear and correct information about the MD pattern and corresponds to the dimension G—Goal attainment of the AGIL Scheme. The implementation of university courses and post graduate master’s degrees will provide expert professionals with specific competences: to be able to properly inform consumers not only at restaurants, but also during seminars or events that concern the MD and food [ 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 ]. Among these, the expert on the MD may also be an “ambassador of the Mediterranean diet” and contribute sharing and transferring information and knowledge about the MD to people (like, for example, wine influencers, oenologist, or sommeliers in the wine sector).…”

“…Information and education at schools and universities could also go through food policies that involve the adoption of the MD, also with reference to food served at school and university refectories, cafeterias, and restaurants, as part of integrated projects at the municipal and regional levels, both in smaller territories and at the national level, having specific characteristics for the promotion of food systems that favor short supply chains and the use of local seasonal products [ 83 , 84 , 85 , 89 , 90 ]. These actions could contribute to the improvement of the population’s nutrition and health and, indirectly, to the improvement of environmental sustainability and biodiversity in the Mediterranean area.…”

Food (di)lemmas: disentangling the Italian Local Food Policy narratives

“…The hypothesis underlying the present study is that food is one of the privileged areas for analysing, understanding and guiding the development paths of the territories in their complexity. Nevertheless, the lack of common definitions and clear logical frameworks and, subsequently, of coordination of mutual understanding between the actors involved, has led to ineffective outcomes with respect to the objectives (Fattibene et al, 2023). This is exacerbated by a growing disconnection between food production and consumption that affects many spheres: economic, geographical, symbolic, cultural and political (Bricas et al, 2017).…”

“…"Local" refers to both a geographical context and a space of action (Dansero et al, 2020) and is intended as a context with blurred boundaries, as an intermediate level, to be constructed and legitimated by a variety of actors (individuals, groups, local communities) and multi-scale policies (from the municipal, to the national, European and global levels). Such complexity reflects the liveliness of the Italian context (Fattibene et al, 2023) when it comes to analysing the number and maturity of initiatives. However, many experiences carried out at the local level demonstrate the abundance of ideas, resources, projects, and actors involved, often capable of generating considerable ferment and excellent opportunities to activate synergies, but they also risk being ineffective if a common framework is not defined.…”